The carbon cycle plays a fundamental role in the forces driving global climate change as well as being impacted by a changing climate. Agricultural, forestry and related managed systems play a key role in both carbon the uptake and storage from and release to the atmosphere, including the greenhouse gases CO2 and methane. This program, offered in partnership with the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2013 program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science (DOE), and the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), contributes toward the goals of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and its Carbon Cycle Science Program by providing critical scientific information about the movement of carbon in the environment and potential near- and long-term changes in the carbon cycle, including the role of and implications for societal actions. It follows from four previous joint USDA-NASA solicitations in 2004, 2007, and 2010, and 2013 addressing questions of carbon stocks and fluxes as well as how carbon cycling might change and be managed in response to a changing climate, and the risks and benefits to society of management and adaptation options.